Hemiancistrus sp. “L128”

Order: Siluriformes
Suborder: Loricarioidei
Family: Loricariidae
Subfamily: Hypostominae
Genus: Hemiancistrus
Species: not described yet

Hemiancistrus sp. "L128" is a large growing pleco commonly known under the synonym "Blue Phantom Pleco". This species can grow up to over 25 cm in body length and needs therefore quite some space in the aquarium.

Its overall ground coloration is olive green - grey with a blue hue over it. Bright white/yellow/light blue spots cover the whole body, which gives this pleco a very colorful and interesting appearance. Males and females develop yellowish odontodes on the gills and the pectoral fins. Males show sometimes little odontode growth next to the dorsal fin.

This fish can show aggression's towards its own, especially between males. Other than that this species is peaceful towards most other fish.

Hemiancistrus sp. "L128" shouldn't be confused with the described species Hemiancistrus subviridis "L200" which shares the same habitat. Other than that, it can also be easily confused with Hemiancistrus sp. "L467" or Baryancistrus demantoides "L200 Hi Fin".

This pleco lives in the warm and oxygen rich waters of the Rio Orinoco / Puerto Ayacucho / Puerto Carreno on the border region between Venezuela and Colombia.

The water there can reach high temperatures up to 32° C. The pH of this water is slightly acidic and doesn't consist much minerals.

Hemiancistrus sp. "L128" is omnivorous, which means that it eats plant material and animal proteins. In nature its diet consists mainly of crustaceans and insect larvae, but also different kinds of algae.

In captivity this species can be fed with all kinds of processed and frozen food. This fish is not necessarily a picky eater, if it is healthy and feeling well. Additionally fresh vegetables, like zucchini or sweet potato can be fed.

Since this fish grows rather large, its aquarium should be at least 150 cm long. Depending on the number of specimens and their size, aquariums with 200 cm are preferable. Males can be territorial and fight for their hiding- and breeding spots. There should always be more caves, then the number of plecos in the aquarium available. Other than caves, big stones and driftwood can be used to make sight barriers. As substrate sand does its job very well.

Next to a good filtration, a streaming pump and an air stone should never be missing in a tank for "L128". Dimmed light helps to see the shy fish more often outside of their caves over the day.

This pleco is also good for community set ups, since it doesn't show aggression towards other fish, and has no special needs in feeding.

Sexing Phantom plecos can be hard sometimes, especially because females can show a lot of maleish traits, like spiky odontodes on the fins and gills, sometimes even quite maleish shaped heads. With this post, we hope we can help you a little, when it comes to identifying the sex of your Hemiancistrus sp. "L128".

If we take a look from the side, it is notable, that the female seems to be a bit higher and not so flat as the male.

As mentioned, is the head shape not the best indicator for sexing this pleco. Male and female show a pretty similar silhouette of the head from the side.

The odontodes of the gills are in both sexes really prominent. Even though the male tends to have longer ones, there exist females, which seem to be as spiky as males.

The odontodes on the pectoral fins are more developed with mature males. To sex young individuals via those odontodes is not a good way to do it.

Females show in most cases a smooth surface of the hind body part. With males, especially next to the dorsal fin, rows of little odontodes can be seen.

From top the general body shape is better visible. Females are more curvy with the broadest part at the belly region. Males tend to be broadest at the shoulders.

The heads from top look quite similar. Females show in general a bit a rounder shaped head, but not particularly smaller as the male. The only outstanding difference can be seen around the gills. Males have thicker gill laps, where the odontodes sit on. Those stand out like little bumps on each side.

For us, the underside reveals the most about the sex of the Blue Phantom Pleco. Males have a small pointy papilla, where as females have a round broad papilla. The females additionally show yellow spots around the papilla.

Like almost every other pleco, also this species is a cave spawner. Males take care of the egg clutch till the larvae hatched and used up their yolk sacc.

For breeding it might be the best to separate harmonizing pairs in own breeding tanks. The breeding tank should be set up with 2 caves, fitting to the size, some hiding spots and a streaming pump. The water should be good oxygenated and warm (around 30 °C). Big weekly waterchanges can stimulate this pleco to spawn. Soft osmosis water gets these fish into breeding mood.

Most important is, not to stress the breeding pair while or after spawning, since males tend to eat the egg batch when being stressed. This species tends to show no interest in each other for a long time and seems to start tunneling out of nothing. Mostly it doesn't take them then long to spawn (1 - 3 days).